The passage of Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010 is considered significant for it allowed devolution of several subjects to the provinces through abolition of Concurrent Legislative List. One of the important developments in the amendment was the acceptance of right to information of a citizen as a fundamental right. The parliament introduced Article 19A in the Constitution through which the right to information was included in the Constitution for the first time. This step was taken for the sake of introducing transparency in overall governance system.
Article 19A states: “Every citizen shall have the right to have access to information in all matters of public importance subject to regulation and reasonable restrictions imposed by law.” Prior to this the constitution provided right to freedom of speech and expression and freedom of press through Article 19, but these are also subject to restrictions imposed by law in the interest of the glory of Islam or the integrity, security or defence of Pakistan; friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality or in relation to contempt of court. It is now binding on the provincial government to introduce such laws which provide mechanism to citizens to have access to information in government departments. However, from its attitude it is evident that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is least interested in fulfilling its constitutional obligation.
One important development in this regard is the enactment of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act 2012, which was passed by the provincial assembly in May 2012. Through this Act the government has replaced the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Ordinance 2001, which was promulgated during Pervez Musharraf’s rule.
Interestingly, the framers of the previous law had ensured that the citizens should be entitled to have access to certain information. However, in the present Act those provisions have now been ignored.
Section 137 (1) of the ordinance provides: “Every citizen shall have the right to information about any office of the District Government, Tehsil Municipal Administration and Union Administration.” Furthermore, sub-section 2 provided that every office should provide requisite information, if not restricted under any law for the time being in force, on the prescribed forms and on payment of such fee as may be prescribed.
That provision further provided that information about the staffing and the performance of the office of a local government during the preceding month shall, as far as possible, be displayed at a prominent place within the premises of the office for access by the citizens.
In the previous law it was also ensured that the meetings of district council should be open to public. Section 42 (7) provides that the meeting of district council should be open to public, unless the council, by a resolution, decides to hold any meeting in camera. Section 54 (1) of the ordinance also provided that the tehsil municipal administration should be to maintain, with the assistance of the district government, union and village councils, a comprehensive data base and information system for tehsil municipal administration and provide public access to it on nominal charges.
Legal experts say that the government had diluted the said sections related to access to information and transparency in the new law. They said that while some sections were included in the new law for display of certain documents there was no section available, like section 137 of the previous law, which makes it binding on the officials to provide information to citizens.
In the present Act section 167 (3) provides that a copy of the annual statement of accounts shall be displayed at a conspicuous place in the office of the Local Council concerned for public inspection, and all objections or suggestions concerning such accounts received from the public shall be considered by the Local Council and brought to the notice of the concerned audit authority.
Over a decade has passed since the then government had introduced the Freedom of Information Ordinance 2002. That law is only related to federal government departments and institutions and is not applicable to provincial departments. Legal experts believe that the provincial government should enact a law for providing the right to citizens to have access to information in public offices. Similarly, the Local Government Act 2012 should also be amended so as to include the provisions which were available in the previous law.
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